Immigrants out of Arizona, and now out of the textbooks?  On the heels of Arizona’s draconian new anti-immigrant law, legislators there have approved a bill intended to ban ethnic studies classes in Arizona public schools. 

The measure, HB 2281 (full text here), prohibits schools from offering courses that "are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group" or "advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."  The apparent target of the legislation is the Tuscon public school district’s Mexican American Studies program.  The Arizona state schools superintendent, who backs the bill, has called the program "ethnic chauvinism." State Sen. Russell Pearce, one of the main architects of the anti-immigrant bill, says ethnic studies is "hateful speech" and "sedition." 

As a professor of Asian American studies, I can honestly say that I would never have known that the language in HB 2281 was meant to describe ethnic studies classes if someone hadn’t told me first.  Ethnic studies is not "ethnic chauvinism" and "hate speech" but the antithesis of those things.  It opposes racism in all its forms.  It seeks to portray the full diversity of American history and culture and to encourage tolerance and understanding of those whose experiences may be different from one's own.  Far from  dividing students along lines of "ethnic solidarity," ethnic studies classes bring students together around a shared desire to expand their knowledge.  (And I’m still scouring my syllabus to figure out where it is that I "promote the overthrow of the United States government.")

Ethnic studies is not "designed for a particular ethnic group."  The students in my Asian American studies classes are white, black, and Latino as well as Asian.  The conversation around Asian Americans’ many contributions to American history and culture is only enriched by this diversity.

The logic underlying HB 2281--that education can only happen if we treat everyone as individuals and nothing more--is bizarre.  History is made not just by individuals, but by groups.  Shall we ban teaching the history of slavery, the Civil War, or the civil rights movement because it might encourage students to think about African Americans as a group?  (Well, Arizona did resist creating a holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr., so maybe they don’t think he’s so important.)  How about banning the teaching of the classics, since it might teach students to think like Greeks?  Forget the Founding Fathers; they had plenty of ethnic solidarity, since they were all white men.  Heck, while we’re at it, let’s keep the Constitution out of the classroom, since it has the nerve to speak in the voice of "We, the People." 

It’s all too clear that the "resentment" here is not being generated in the ethnic studies classroom.  Instead, it comes from politicians who resent any acknowledgment that immigrants of all kinds have a place in the history of the United States.  If you need any more evidence that Arizona’s anti-immigrant push is mean-spirited, HB 2281 provides it.  Arizona has done what it can to drive out immigrants; now it wants to erase them from history as well.

(Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has not yet signed the bill. If you'd like to tell her what you think of it, drop her a line here.)